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Protecting Our Forests, Protecting Our Health 保护雨林等于捍卫人类健康

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Malaria spikes as rainforest is cleared, study finds  研究发现疟疾随着雨林面积缩小而盛行

Chopping down the rain forest can harm animals such as toucans, golden lion tamarind monkeys and poison dart frogs. Now, add another species to the list – humans.

砍伐雨林可能对巨嘴鸟（译注：或称大嘴鸟）、金狮狨（译注：或称金狮狨猴、金毛狮绒）与箭毒蛙等动物造成危害。现在，这份名单上又增加了一个物种──人类。

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon can lead to malaria epidemics years later, according to a new study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

麦迪逊威斯康辛大学的一份新研究指出，巴西亚马逊地区的伐林活动可能在多年后导致疟疾疫情盛行。

The work, published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, combined malaria case reports with high-resolution satellite imagery from a remote, sparsely populated region of tropical Brazil. The study found that for every square kilometer of forest cut down, the number of reported malaria cases spiked by 50 percent. The work “points out how tropical forest conservation can be important for human health,” said epidemiologist Sarah Olson, lead author of the study.

这份研究报告刊登于《新兴传染病》期刊，内容结合了疟疾病例和热带巴西一处人烟稀少的偏远地区的高分辨率卫星影像。研究发现，雨林每遭到砍伐一平方公里，通报的疟疾病例数就会增加百分之五十。这项研究「指出热带森林的保育工作对人类健康可能非常重要，」流行病学家莎拉．欧森说，她是这份研究报告的主要作者。

Testing a hypothesis  验证假说

Olson and her colleagues at UW suspected that clearing rainforests could lead to a rash of malaria cases five to 10 years later. To test that theory, they analyzed satellite imagery of Mancio Lima County in western Brazil from 1977 to 2000.

欧森与威斯康辛大学的同僚猜测，砍伐雨林的行为可能在五到十年后导致疟疾病例激增。为了验证这项理论，他们分析了巴西西部曼席欧利马郡从一九九七到二０００年的卫星影像。

The images, which had fine resolution of about an acre, revealed a patchwork of clear-cut land, shrubs and lush rain forest. In 2006, health workers recorded malaria infections at local clinics and also traveled into villages and towns to test for the disease. The region’s 10,000 to 15,000 inhabitants logged a staggering 15,437 cases of malaria that year.

这些影像的分辨率达一英亩左右，从中可看到清晰易辨认的地面、灌木丛与繁茂的雨林互相交织。在二００六年，卫生人员在当地诊所记录疟疾传染病例，也到村庄与城镇里检验这种疾病。该地区的一万至一万五千名居民在那年罹患疟疾的个案竟惊人地多达一万五千四百三十七例。

Increasing risk   风险提高

Health districts with extensive deforestation had higher rates of malaria than those with intact forests, even when controlling for population density or how quickly people got treatment.

伐林面积大的健康服务区，疟疾发生率比森林保持完好的地区来得高。就算把人口密度以及病患获得治疗的速度纳入计算当中，结果也还是一样。

Clearing just 4 percent of the land was linked to 50 percent more malaria cases year later. Deforestation was the most important risk factor for the disease and dwarfed the effect of getting treatment early, which typically reduces disease transmission.

只要砍伐百分之四的林地，就可能在多年后导致疟疾病例增加百分之五十。伐林是影响疟疾发生率最重要的危险因子。及早接受治疗虽然通常可减少疾病传播，但效果远远比不上伐林的影响。

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malaria [məˋlɛrɪə] n. 疟疾 a disease contracted from the bite of a particular type of mosquito which causes periods of fever and makes one feel very cold and shaky

toucan [ˋtukæn] n.【鸟】巨嘴鸟

tamarind [ˋtæmə͵rɪnd] n.【植】罗望子

epidemic [͵ɛpɪˋdɛmɪk] n. 流行病，时疫

sparsely [ˋspɑrslɪ] adv. 稀疏地；稀少地

spike [spaɪk] v. 增强…的效果 make more forceful, severe

epidemiologist [͵ɛpɪ͵dimɪˋɑlədʒɪst] n. 流行病学家

patchwork [ˋpætʃ͵wɝk] n. 片片田野/村庄等〔自空中俯看时似由田野和村庄等拼缀而成的图案〕; 补缀品；凑合物

shrub [ʃrʌb] n. 矮树；灌木

log [lɔg] v. 记录

staggering [ˋstægərɪŋ] adj. 惊人的

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The jump in malaria incidence could be caused by a rise in the population of mosquitoes that carries the disease, said Jonathan Patz, an epidemiologist and co-author of the study.

疟疾病例激增的原因，可能是病媒蚊数量增加，流行病学家强纳森．帕兹表示，他是这份研究报告的共同作者。

In a previous study, the team showed that the population of the species of mosquito that carries the disease explodes after deforestation. One reason for this explosion is that this mosquito thrives in lagoons with partial sunlight. Chopping down the rainforest canopy creates more of these sun-flecked pools for the insects to populate, Patz said.

在先前的一项研究里，研究团队证明了疟疾病媒蚊的数量在伐林之后暴增。之所以会造成这种现象，其中一个原因是这种蚊子在受到些微阳光照射的舄湖里生长得最旺盛。雨林的树冠层遭到砍伐之后，受到零星阳光照射的水塘便随之增加，于是这种昆虫也就更有机会繁殖，帕兹如此表示。

A wake-up call  当头棒喝

The findings are some of the most detailed yet to link environmental changes with the spread of disease.

就环境变迁与疾病扩散之间的关联而言，上述的研究结果是目前为止最详尽的发现。

While traditional studies have tied air pollution with respiratory ailments or water contamination, “we don’t have a lot of studies that show the link between our impact by changing the environment on a large scale and disease,” said Carlos Corvalan, of the Pan American Health Organization. “The study is extraordinary in that sense.”

过去的研究虽已发现空气污染与呼吸道疾病或水污染有关，「却还没有太多研究显示人类大规模改变环境与疾病之间的关联，」泛美卫生组织的卡洛斯．柯瓦伦说：「就这个层面而言，这项研究堪称非比寻常。」

The findings could have implications for public health in other South American countries with similar ecology, Patz said. To get malaria under control, they may have to think about more than just providing health clinics and pills. Instead, governments may need to protect forests to protect their citizens.

对于生态环境相似的其他南美洲国家而言，上述发现带有的公共卫生意涵可能极为重大，帕兹说。要控制疟疾，他们所需思考的可能不仅限于成立诊所与提供药物。取而代之的是，政府可能必须保护森林才能保护其国民。

“If we keep treating diseases like malaria and other infectious diseases without understanding the underlying determinants of disease transmission,” said Patz, “it’s equivalent to mopping up floor without turning off the faucet.”

「若想遏制疟疾和其他传染病，却不愿意深入了解疾病传播的潜在决定因素，」帕兹说：「就如同只忙着擦地板上的水，却不懂得把水龙头关上。」

−by Tia Ghose

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incidence [ˋɪnsədns] n.【正式】〔疾病﹑罪行等坏事的〕发生率

lagoon [ləˈɡun] n. 舄湖 an area of sea water separated from the sea by a reef

canopy [ˋkænəpɪ] n. 天篷; 树冠 the branches and leaves that spread out at the top of a group of trees forming a type of roof

flecked [flɛkt] adj. 遍布点点的

contamination [kən͵tæməˋneʃən] n. 污染 something that has been made less pure or possibly poisonous

underlying [͵ʌndɚˋlaɪɪŋ] adj. 含蓄的；潜在的; 基本的，根本的 concealed but detectable; fundamental; basic

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deforestation [͵difɔrəsˋteʃən] n. 砍伐森林 the cutting down of trees in a large area; the destruction of forests by people

rash [ræʃ] n.【非正式】大量的〔一下子出现的令人不快的事件﹑变化等〕a large number of unpleasant events of the same type

clear-cut [ˋklɪrˋkʌt] adj. 轮廓清晰的 relating to a section of land where all of the trees have been cut down, especially at one time

dwarf [dwɔrf] v.  使…相形见绌 to make something seem small by comparison

transmission [trænsˋmɪʃən] n. 传染，传播 the process of passing something from one person or place to another

respiratory [ˈrɛspərəˌtɔri] ;[rɪˋspaɪrə͵torɪ] adj. 呼吸的 relating to breathing

ailment [ˋelmənt] n. 病痛；（尤指轻微的）疾病 an illness

determinant [dɪˋtɝmənənt] n. 决定因素 something that causes something to happen

Malaria and Global Warming of the Mathematical Models Lecture